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One issue I've been running into recently with Teddi: on property we have a restaurant where a staff member there, who really, really likes dogs, keeps popping out and giving treats to any dog that passes by. This has, unfortunately, gotten Teddi's attention and every time we go for a walk, he will try to drag me there, regardless of if even the restaurant is even open, or if I let said staff give him treats (thankfully they are respectful when you say "Thanks, but no treats."). I have been working on reinforcing two commands with him to solve this: "heel", "leave-it" and positive reinforcement + treats. However he always tries to drag me there and will not budge until it's clear nobody is in the restaurant to give him treats or said staff comes out with treats for him. Worse: if the place isn't closed and he gets no treats, or if I don't let him get treats, etc, he enters passive aggressive corgi mode, where for the remainder of his walk he will take two steps, sniff the ground for 30 seconds, and then turn around and stare at the restaurant for another 30 seconds before taking another two steps and repeating the process. This changes what should be a 30 minute walk take over an hour unless I force him to move, which I try to avoid doing unless absolutely necessary (crossing the road with a car incoming to keep him out of danger, etc). Anyone have any suggestions for resolving this or is keeping the reinforcement training going the right way to go?
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Jan 1, 2024 02:04
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I wanted to give an update on my recent adopted furry son Jupiter. I posted here about his problem with leash/barrier frustration. The boy is doing AMAZING, I'm so proud of him, and very thankful to you guys for the advice. I've been making sure to take loads of treats with me, and whenever I see another dog (I'm almost always the first to see it haha) I start watching him closely. As soon as his ears turn forward and he starts snuffling it's really clear that he's seen them so I quickly say "Jupiter, come here" and he comes back and I can successfully keep him distracted now while the dog passes or even while we pass them. He does keep looking back to them and snorting but a quick "Jupiter, come here buddy" with an offered treat gets him back on track and focused on me. This is just the last couple of days that I've seen this big change so I'm sure he'll have some bad walks too but that's okay, I can see that it's working and I'm loving it! He didn't bark at all today in two walks with multiple dog encounters! putin is a cunt fucked around with this message at 10:48 on Jan 1, 2024 |
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Jan 1, 2024 10:44
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Pavlov is looking for the man with the treats
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Jan 1, 2024 19:14
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My 3 dogs all went through a ~12h period of low/no appetite a few days ago. Two vomited up small amounts of bile but otherwise no symptoms. Since then, one is back to normal but the other two still aren’t eating like normal. They drink water and will sniff their food but not eat any. Bowel movements are unremarkable, and aside from some weakness that I’ll attribute to them not eating, they seem fine. No apparent signs of distress or discomfort. I’m going to the vet tonight but does anyone have any idea what this could be? There isn’t really anything they could have eaten to sicken them .. my daughter had some fudge a few days ago and I was thinking maybe they got some from her but chocolate toxicity in dogs manifests differently. This isn’t really the time of year to spray pesticides so I don’t think they got exposed to landscaping chemicals. I was thinking maybe it’s that mysterious dog illness that’s been going around but there hasn’t been any coughing or respiratory symptoms—or really any symptoms besides lack of appetite. Could this maybe be a stomach virus? 
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Jan 2, 2024 18:32
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Honestly it’s probably nothing. My dog kinda went through the same thing and the vet said it’s probably nothing but still did a $500 blood test which revealed nothing. How are they with treats? Like high value ones? You could also try using some like bone broth on their food and see. They could just be being stubborn.
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Jan 2, 2024 19:02
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Yeah my dog does this from time to time, we don't usually take him to the vet until like day 3, esp if he's still into treats
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Jan 2, 2024 19:11
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MarcusSA posted:Honestly it’s probably nothing. HootTheOwl posted:Yeah my dog does this from time to time, we don't usually take him to the vet until like day 3, esp if he's still into treats Thank you for the responses, truly, it’s helpful to get some additional perspectives. Truthfully, this is kind of how I feel, that whatever is going on is probably nothing and that there is little the vet can do (aside from collecting the bill! :v)but it seemed negligent to not go after a few days of this. Plus one of the dogs is around 16 so my threshold for taking her in is lower than for a younger dog. Appetite has been inconsistent, no appetite on Saturday, got some wet food (which they love and don’t normally get) on Sunday and she ate it Sunday and Monday and then no appetite today. The other has had a poor appetite the past two days but ate Saturday and Sunday. Normally they are voracious eaters so this is very unusual for them. They still sniff the food but refuse to eat , which is how they’ve acted in the past when they’ve had upset stomachs. TL;DR: I might hold off on the vet for another day, given that they are otherwise symptom free and in no apparent distress. Is this reasonable in your opinions?
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Jan 2, 2024 19:44
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Imo yeah. Especially if they are still drinking water like normal. The 16 year old could have teeth issues possibly?
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Jan 2, 2024 20:53
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My dogs have always done this. They get tired of their kibble and go on hunger strikes. They'll still happily eat treats, or "bribes" we put in their food (but we stopped doing that when they figured out they could just not eat to get some tasty people food, which they'd then pick out of their uneaten kibble). Both of them did the throwing-up-bile thing too, always after skipping a meal. The vet said it's nothing to worry about if they're still acting normally otherwise (and especially if they'll take a treat). As someone upthread mentioned, a healthy dog won't starve itself.
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Jan 2, 2024 21:08
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MadFriarAvelyn posted:Anyone have any suggestions for resolving this or is keeping the reinforcement training going the right way to go? Bring your own bag of treats and train him “Let’s go! This way!”
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Jan 2, 2024 21:17
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Well, looks like patience was the correct approach as one dog resumed her voracious ways with regular food and the other one has been eating some no-salt tuna (but no interest in anything else yet) so maybe we’re on the mend? Fingers crossed, my 16 year old is still very weak but I’ll attribute that to the undereating. Thinking about it, I had gotten carried away with the holiday spirit and given them too many dried chicken jerky treats and maybe that hurt their stomach and so they were nervous to eat anything else? It would be odd given that they never vomited or had diarrhea but thats the only thing I can think of. MarcusSA posted:The 16 year old could have teeth issues possibly? Been there, done that unfortunately  we have had great luck since with a dental water additive and a plaque reducing supplement that we just add to their food. They claim these supplements can replace brushing but I’m skeptical so we still brush their teeth everyday. Since their mouths are so small and they are not very compliant with the brushing, the supplements help to cover anything we miss. Highly recommend one or both supplements for any goons pets, provided that your veterinarian approves of course.We use Oxyfresh but I think the other brands use the same active ingredients https://www.chewy.com/oxyfresh-premium-pet-care-solution/dp/158448 And then this is the dental powder. Chewy makes their own knockoff so I assume there are other brands too. It’s seaweed based and sprinkles on their food and is supposed to work to break down plaque in their mouth. Seems to work pretty well for us! https://www.chewy.com/proden-plaqueoff-powder-dog-cat/dp/132174 These worked really well for us and our three dogs so if anyone else is struggling to keep your pets teeth clean maybe one or both types of these products can help
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Jan 3, 2024 01:50
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Thank you for the dental recommendations. My dog is a total butt about getting her teeth brushed. Speaking of butts though, Millie had a yearly check up at the vet today, and needs a follow up appointment scheduled for sedation and to have a closer look at her left anal gland. The vet wants to take a closer look at it because it was concerning. Rule out possibility of a tumor. Trying not to stress about that because there is really no reason to be concerned for now. I said come in! fucked around with this message at 05:35 on Jan 4, 2024 |
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Jan 4, 2024 05:33
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Cross post from the DIY forum, I have slick laminate floors and an aging dog that’s slipping on them. I am considering applying a non-slip coating for the sake of my dog (I wanted to replace the floors anyways so a permanent coating isn’t an issue). I’ve found this:  Which looks like it should do the trick, it’s just expensive at $155/gallon. If that’s what I gotta pay, fine, but maybe another poster knows of a less-expensive alternative? I’m looking for a clear, reasonably durable coating or paint. Nonslip socks/booties just make her walk funny and covering the floor with carpet or rubber mats would make cleaning a hassle so I’m kinda set on a nonslip coating. I said come in! posted:Thank you for the dental recommendations. My dog is a total butt about getting her teeth brushed. That’s tough, and certainly nerve wracking. One of my dogs had a lump on her mammary glands and they were able to do a needle biopsy real quick and thankfully confirm it was benign .. hopefully they can do something minimally invasive like that and confirm it’s nothing. I was able to put my mind at ease somewhat by reminding myself of these facts, all of which I think apply to your situation: 1) maybe it’s nothing, just a normal but swollen gland 2) if it is a tumor, it could be benign 3) if it is malignant, you are being proactive and addressing it immediately You’re doing everything you can, so hang in there! And keep us updated 
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Jan 4, 2024 14:21
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Any tips for minimizing separation anxiety when you have a new puppy and everybody in the household works from home? We've only had Odie for two weeks but I think he's already gotten used to having people nearby 24/7 and does not appreciate being locked in a room or a crate when we aren't around. He does great sleeping through the night in his crate at this point, but when we put him in it and leave the room or the house he is extremely unhappy. I'm thinking we should just start scheduling crate time every day in increasing intervals so that it doesn't become a problem when we eventually do need to leave the house without him more often.
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Jan 4, 2024 16:04
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Find a toy he really really likes and only give it to him in the crate, as well as a shirt/ towel that smells like you. There's also the air diffuser stuff that can help with anxiety
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Jan 4, 2024 16:40
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For Pochi she has been good so far, even though we WFH and are home a lot. What we did was we started by going out for 15 minutes, then 30 minutes, then 1 hr, etc. leaving her in her crate. I think your idea of doing crate time during the day is a good place to start.
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Jan 4, 2024 16:55
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Stravag posted:Find a toy he really really likes and only give it to him in the crate, as well as a shirt/ towel that smells like you. There's also the air diffuser stuff that can help with anxiety We've done the shirt thing and tried his favorite toy + a collagen chew treat but as soon as we step out of the room he gets upset and stops playing with it. We're going to try doing a kong with peanut butter next as his crate-only toy and see if that makes him happy for longer in there. Haven't heard of the air diffuser thing, will look it up.
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Jan 4, 2024 17:19
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I’m also interested in the air diffuser thing, this is what I found on Amazon. ThunderEase Dog Calming Pheromone Diffuser Kit | Powered by ADAPTIL | Vet Recommended to Relieve Separation Anxiety, Stress Barking & Chewing, and Fear of Fireworks & Thunderstorms (30 Day Supply) https://a.co/d/2yOQC7N The reviews aren’t great and for one person it burnt lol Newton is a very dog-oriented dog and most of his anxiety occurs indoors (he is much more calm in the back yard) so I feel like this is a good fit. But I’m interested in if anybody has any firsthand experience with it.
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Jan 4, 2024 18:25
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I would ask your vet for their opinion. My impression is that that stuff is basically just aromatherapy for dogs, and without the placebo effect that humans usually get. So I wouldn't expect much.
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Jan 4, 2024 19:08
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It was 13 dollars and I have a bunch of fire extinguishers, ordered. With how much Newton’s attitude is changing day to day I’m not sure if I’ll be able to say one way or the next but whatever.
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Jan 4, 2024 20:39
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Anyone have experience with housebreaking puppies from notoriously stubborn breeds like chihuahuas? My little guy is 11 months. He holds his bladder really well overnight, but, in between walks during the day, he will sneak away and pee inside when I'm not looking. More info: - I clean it up immediately and use enzymatic cleaners. - I take him for a walk before bed, then again immediately in the morning - 8hrs sleeping in crate. - He gets walked often and gets treats and praise when he pees/poos outside. - I don't restrict access to water during the day. - There's an older dog brother who does not have accidents ever and they have a good relationship.
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Jan 4, 2024 20:45
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DallaDalla posted:Anyone have experience with housebreaking puppies from notoriously stubborn breeds like chihuahuas? The other problem may be that you're not taking him outside often enough. He needs to go outside after every meal, snack, nap, playtime, or other change in activity. You may need to take him out every 30-60 minutes during the day. If he doesn't pee when you take him, then he either needs to be tethered to you when you go back inside, or in the crate, and then take him out to try again in another 30 minutes. Phone timers really help imo -- it's easy to get preoccupied and suddenly it's been 2-3 hours since he went outside. As much as possible, do not give him opportunities to make mistakes. He shouldn't ever be loose in a room without you unless you know he is totally "empty".
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Jan 4, 2024 21:21
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Crooked Booty posted:The main problem is the sneaking off. Either keep him leashed to you at all times or use gates to majorly restrict his access to the house so there is no sneaking off. If he is crated overnight, he should also be crated during the day anytime you can't watch him closely. Thank you - I'll be more diligent. It feels a bit 'mean' to tether him because the other dog is running around happily, but I'll have to get over it. And I suppose the answer to 'for how long' depends on him? I know he can hold it, so it's just about forcing him to only go outside until he establishes it as a rule in his own little head...
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Jan 4, 2024 21:32
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Did you say how old he is? I may have missed it but generally the rule is 1 hour per month till 12 months. It doesn't always work out exactly like that, esp for a smaller breed.
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Jan 4, 2024 22:51
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i own every Bionicle posted:I’m also interested in the air diffuser thing, this is what I found on Amazon. I work for a veterinary behaviorist and we have these things all over both the office and training center. Never had any have fire issues and they’ve been using them for like a decade now. It’s pretty variable about how dogs respond to them. Some get a lot of benefit, some don’t seem to get any. It’s a relatively cheap and easy thing to try out though so we recommend them a lot.
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Jan 5, 2024 00:10
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Instant Jellyfish posted:I work for a veterinary behaviorist and we have these things all over both the office and training center. Never had any have fire issues and they’ve been using them for like a decade now. It’s pretty variable about how dogs respond to them. Some get a lot of benefit, some don’t seem to get any. It’s a relatively cheap and easy thing to try out though so we recommend them a lot. Thank you! Newton update: We had our first training lesson on Saturday. The guy definitely seems to know his stuff as a dog trainer, even if he wasn’t always great at answering my questions. I decided to give him a shot and signed up for some more lessons. He did give me some good tips, and said I was on the right track with him. We made some progress with him here. One thing he suggested after seeing how badly Newton shut down when I put his leash on was to try to continue to build his confidence without the leash before I put it back on. Newton doesn’t bite the leash, pull, or anything like that…it just immobilizes him. I can have the door open and he’s ready to run out and play, but if the leash is on him, he bluescreens and doesn’t move (even if I am not holding the other end). If I try to guide him with the leash he locks up, and as soon as I unclip it he comes online again and goes back to his old self. Since he really needs help with other things as well, he recommended we build his confidence and his trust before we go too far with the leash. Unfortunately a big hurdle with Newton has always been getting him to come back inside after going out for potty breaks/playing in the back yard. For a while, he was only comfortable in one corner. So he’d go there and I could just pick him up and get him inside. Then he got more comfortable, but I found I could say “Newton, settle down” and he’d go to that corner and sit and I could grab him. I tried to treat him whenever I did that but he usually wouldn’t take them. Often I could put him down after I got to the bottom of the stairs and he’d follow me up then and inside, but after a while that didn’t work and he’d run off if I didn’t carry him all the way in. Then he got comfortable in the whole yard and poo poo went south. The “settle down” trick didn’t work…likely because that was really just making him give up and go into learned helplessness mode. But with his newfound confidence, he had the ability to run away from me. Eventually he would give up and sit down, but the time I’d been spending trying to get him back in wasn’t helping either of our comfort levels. At my trainers’ suggestion, I’d been leaving treats near the stairs/entrance to the house. So a few days ago I spent a while out there trying to lure him up the stairs with treats. It didn’t work and I had to corral him up and grab him. The next evening I put his dinner on the stairs and gently tried to put a big board at the base of the stairs to keep him from running off after he cautiously plodded his way far enough up to eat it, since he has never tried to jump, scratch, or climb over any barriers or gates. I reasoned if I could pull that off the next step would be having his dinner waiting for him inside and he would start to go in. Big loving mistake, he panicked, plowed through it and ran to his security corner and became a helpless, quivering mess. I brought the poor guy in and gave him the rest of his dinner and some treats and let him unwind in his crate and felt awful about myself. But after that, he has started following me inside when I go in. I give him all the praise I can and treat the hell out of him. I divided his meals up so that he gets one every time he comes in. I also found that adding a little hot water to his kibble elevates it from passable gruel to Seriously Gourmet poo poo, and he’s eating it with more gusto than he used to. He’s nervous when he comes in, and since that night he’s been more nervous in general. But hopefully he gets over that, learns to look forward to the reward he gets when goes in, and I can remove that stressor from our routine. He also always gets a petting session when he comes in (if he’s up for it). After one stressful evening that took like a half hour to get him inside I was on the stairs wondering how much this dog hates me, I heard whining from my room, and when I went in he was on his bed and waiting for pets, which I was clearly late for. He has also progressed to occasional belly rubs, which is good? He won’t do upside down bitey face yet, I don’t think he has the confidence. 
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Jan 5, 2024 01:59
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I would try literally one step at a time - spend time for a day (I don't mean the entire day doing this, just this phase for a day) just trying to get him to put a foot on the first step, give treat, take a little break and play. Put a foot on the step, treat, ok do something else. Whatever time you might be spending outside anyway, again I don't mean spend the whole day doing just this. This is when to bring out the Big Guns treats, although you want to keep them sealed up tight so he's not too focused on them between tries. You want something kinda smelly and intense and quickly eaten, like little bits of liverwurst in small nuggets. Next day, push for two steps. Maybe the first try or tho give him a small treat for the first one but try withholding it until he at least puts a foot on the 2nd step. If/when he does, give a treat right away and if he looks at all stressed or reluctant to take the treat, take a break and do some ordinary play for a while and try again in a bit. Don't push too hard. Next day push for three, etc. E: be a little ruthless here, don't give him the good treats unless he at least tries. E: even if this approach takes some time to teach him that it's ok to go up the stairs, he's probably going to figure out real quick that when you are near the stairs that's when the good treats come out, and he'll be easier to collect when it's time to go in. Give him a good treat for allowing this too. Flesh Forge fucked around with this message at 05:24 on Jan 5, 2024 |
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Jan 5, 2024 05:15
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Thank you, I’ll try to get him less nervous around the stairs in general. Luckily he doesn’t seem to have any issue with actually going up the steps, just going back inside in general was scary and not fun and the steps were the first part of that. I’ve found that lately if I walk up the stairs quickly and open the door right away he will cruise right in with me. Another thing I did was put a grippy rug down in the kitchen, since I think the lack of traction was really freaking him out. Now he can run in and out without slipping. This morning it was really loving cold out and he didn’t seem to want to play as much as usual. After about fifteen minutes he started hanging out near the stairs and his tail went down a bit. I went up, he followed me to the top, got scared and turned around, paced around the yard with his tail down, I went down again and back up and on the next try he followed me all the way in for treats, breakfast, and pets.
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Jan 5, 2024 15:51
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well maybe that won't end up being a very big deal after all 
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Jan 5, 2024 16:03
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My dog with the injury has fortunately recovered fine. The only issue I'm dealing with now is that my dad keeps giving both the dogs treats, and he really needs to loving stop doing this because they're already in the process of becoming overweight (and one already has some hip problems*, so being overweight has serious consequences for her). It's not that serious yet, but I can already see the direction it's heading (because it did for the last dog). It wasn't a big deal when the dogs were younger and more active, but they're starting to gain weight now in their older age. I think some people are bad at visually telling if dogs are overweight, because their fur and general shape hides it. If you don't know what you're looking at, a fat dog might just look "like they have thick fur." I tell him to stop and that he's not making life better for them by doing this (especially the one with hip issues), and he claims to understand but then just keeps doing it because he's old and it's part of his daily routine. Not sure what to do other than hopefully annoying him into submission by just repeatedly telling him to stop. My current efforts are going towards trying to get him to give them smaller portions of treats, because he gives them these three big strips of chicken jerky each (it's an actual dog treat from Kroger, not human food), and it's a serving size that would make sense as a snack for a human, not a dog. I'm telling him to just give them one or two if he insists on doing it. * she's some sort of husky mix, and apparently hip issues are pretty common with that breed
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Jan 5, 2024 23:36
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Classic design flaw in the Newton model is the start button is behind the neck so when you put a leash on you end up pushing the button and bringing up the pause screen
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Jan 5, 2024 23:44
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Ytlaya posted:My dog with the injury has fortunately recovered fine. I had to deal with this with my dad, except he was giving my dog scrapings of human leftovers so it was stuff like oily meat with sauces on it. Only thing that got him to stop was when he saw first hand the explosive diarrhoea she got as a consequence!
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Jan 5, 2024 23:55
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Okay Millie is back home with me now. She did well, her anal gland was impacted and it’s a good thing I got her in when I did. Vet wants to see her back in a week, and gave me pain medications and antibiotics to give her. Also wanted me to start giving her fiber, and I was wondering if there are any recommended supplements for dogs? Anything I could sprinkle in her food that might help?
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Jan 6, 2024 02:13
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I would have asked the vet because fiber comes from wheat and generally we don't feed bread to dogs. ... I guess maybe we do and that's why blue buffalo exists?
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Jan 6, 2024 02:23
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HootTheOwl posted:I would have asked the vet because fiber comes from wheat and generally we don't feed bread to dogs. My dog has a grain allergy, which means I have to hunt down specifically grain-free foods, because most dog foods incorporate grains by default. Not as a large proportion of the kibble, but they're in there. (though note that grain-free foods are associated with an increased risk for some other health disorder, I forget which, so don't go grain-free if you don't have to)
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Jan 6, 2024 02:50
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I said come in! posted:Okay Millie is back home with me now. She did well, her anal gland was impacted and it’s a good thing I got her in when I did. Vet wants to see her back in a week, and gave me pain medications and antibiotics to give her. Also wanted me to start giving her fiber, and I was wondering if there are any recommended supplements for dogs? Anything I could sprinkle in her food that might help? What about vegan/vegetarian dog food? (I know, I know). We don't use it personally as we think meat is an important part of our dogs diet, BUT the company we get the food from does a huge selection, some of which is vegetarian food so the dog can match the owners lifestyle if they do choose, some of them are full of beans etc and I imagine would have a lot of fibre in them. Freja enjoyed them just as much as the meat versions when we tried her with it out of sheer curiosity.
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Jan 6, 2024 03:17
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Ytlaya posted:My dog with the injury has fortunately recovered fine. Perhaps get low cal "training treats" we had to use them for Freja at the start as she was only 8 weeks old when we got her and didn't want her piling weight on. Just give your dad a large stash of training treats and let him go nuts with them, it lets him keep his routine, treat the dogs and let's their weight stay under control at the same..
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Jan 6, 2024 03:19
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I said come in! posted:Okay Millie is back home with me now. She did well, her anal gland was impacted and it’s a good thing I got her in when I did. Vet wants to see her back in a week, and gave me pain medications and antibiotics to give her. Also wanted me to start giving her fiber, and I was wondering if there are any recommended supplements for dogs? Anything I could sprinkle in her food that might help? There are a bunch of different fiber supplements for dogs. I usually just give canned pumpkin but you can get pumpkin powder or there’s a supplement called Bernie’s perfect poop that’s supposed to be good. There’s also glandex which is specifically for dogs with anal gland issues.
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Jan 6, 2024 03:37
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What is everybody using for dog urine accidents? I used to use Urine Destroyer but that’s out of stock locally and on chewy.com/online.
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Jan 7, 2024 17:06
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adnam posted:What is everybody using for dog urine accidents? I used to use Urine Destroyer but that’s out of stock locally and on chewy.com/online. Bissell pet stain and odor has worked ok for me, but all of them require a lot of work to really get the smell out.
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Jan 7, 2024 20:59
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